"You know that there's a serious business here when it's become a regular topic in the news," stated yours truly at a packed bands and global consumer brands session at the Musexpo music conference in L.A. last week.

Other panelists concurred, including the former CEO of Saatchi international, Jim O'Mahoney; Best Buy's senior entertainment officer, Gary Arnold; and Nokia's head of music, Steven Stewart. All agreed that the business has finally come of age, and if one needs further proof, he or she merely needs to turn on the nightly news. Consumer-brand tie-ins with artists continue to make high-profile media stories, most recently Groove Armada's recent deal with Bacaradi, which made a splash across the news in the UK.

O'Mahoney, who is leaving Saatchi to set up a business in the brand-music space, said, "There's no getting away from it. We are at the dawn of a new era, and its staring us right in the face."

This echoed a similar theme from the keynote panel, which featured luminaries such as promoter Harvey Goldsmith and managers of acts like Avril Lavigne, Missy Elliot and Kiss, who all commented on the growing importance of brand partnerships for the artists and events that they managed. While welcoming brands' involvement, the panelists were somewhat scathing about the traditional record labels' ability to "get with the program" and act in a collaborative manner.

This sentiment was summed up by a rather forthright comment from Goldsmith, who suggested that artists may soon opt to go it alone with support from brands instead of labels. "Why are the record labels today still so fucking difficult and slow?" he told the panel audience. "The opportunity is to get with the program, otherwise the artists will just take advantage of what is fast becoming payback time."

About Me

Mike Tunnicliffe is a former Advertising Agency CEO with extensive global branding and marketing experience.
He has worked with major consumer brands and Fortune 500 companies in almost every major global market and is a sought after media commentator and conference speaker. He regularly writes for leading publications including Advertising Age and has a blog ‘Bands & Brands’ that gives incisive views on the latest developments in brand partnerships and new business models in the music, entertainment and brand communications businesses. Mike brings this insight to the real world, through his New York based management company Tuna Music and Los Angeles based branded entertainment company The Sheppard.
Mike has latterly become an equity partner in start up Los Angeles based entertainment & talent agency Filament, which is setting out to become a leading global aggregator of intellectual properties and their rights for artists, entertainers and athletes and will exploit these rights through brand partnerships, smarter marketing and the application of technology, while building a valuable library and continuous revenue streams.